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“No. I want to talk to her.”
“Tsk, tsk. I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
“I need proof of life.” I hate to say it, but I don’t trust him for shit.
He laughs again. “So demanding, but I think I hold all the cards, no?”
“Do you want the port or not?”
His laughter cuts off. “Yes. My people will be in touch for a meet. Oh, and Rafael…I suggest you stop taking my guns, or I will simply kill your precious little slave.” The line cuts off, and I stare at the phone in my hand as though it’s a mirage. He’s willing to make a trade. Two months, and he’s willing to make a trade.
“Well?” Samuel asks.
“He wants to meet.”
“And proof of life?” I shake my head because I can’t stomach the idea that she might be dead, but I know it’s entirely possible. “You can’t give him too much,” Samuel says hesitantly. My fists tighten. “Not without proof. He could screw you over.”
“I know that, Sam!” I snap.
“I’m only looking out for you, Rafe, before you fucking destroy everything we’ve built. Even just giving him the use of that port will cause anarchy across the cartels.”
“I know!”
“Well, then don’t give him the deed for a dead girl.”
I pick up the vodka bottle and launch it across the room until it smashes against the worn yellow wallpaper. Liquid drips down the wall, pooling around the glass. “Don’t fucking say that,” I growl.
“You have to face the facts, Rafe!” That tiny little rational fissure of my mind knows he’s right, but it’s so drowned out by everything else.
“If she’s dead, he won’t get anything from me other than a bullet in the head.” He nods, and I get up, finding another bottle of vodka in the freezer. I go upstairs and shut myself in the drab-looking master bedroom. For the first time in a long time, I drink to the possibilities, to the fact that Anna may be within my grasp.
I send a text message to Nero.
Nicholai wants to meet and possibly trade Anna.
I toss my phone to the side and collapse back on the bed, allowing the alcohol to pull me under into a weightless sleep.
Anna stands across the other side of the pond, her blonde hair whipping around her in the warm desert breeze. I start to walk around the pond, but every time I do, she moves as well, keeping it between us.
“Avecita.”
A sad smile pulls at her lips, and she opens her mouth, but only silence greets me. Her face crumples, and she starts to cry, her tears morphing to blood, streaking down her beautiful cheeks.
“Anna!” I jump the low wall into the water, wading through it as I try to reach her. My fingers are a breath away from touching her when she collapses on the ground. “No!”
I jolt awake to a loud buzzing. My breaths are ragged, my heart hammering. It takes me a confused moment to locate the source of the sound. My phone dances over the wooden surface of the bedside table.
I pick it up and answer. “Yeah?” My voice is raspy and broken.
“Tell me everything.” Nero.
“He just wants to meet. I asked for proof of life. He wouldn’t let me talk to her.”
“What does he want?”
“I have a port…” I hesitate. “I got a tip-off that the Russians are looking for a foothold in Mexico. A way to get arms over the American border from the south.”
He’s silent for a moment. “Offer him whatever you have to, Rafael.” He sounds every bit as strained as I do. There’s a sound in the background, a high-pitched cry. “With Anna out of there, Una is far more likely to come back.” I feel bad for him. Anna was taken, but Una went willingly, and then sent him his baby. Does she ever intend to come back? It’s one thing to lose someone through force. It’s another when they choose to abandon you.
“I’ll do whatever I have to, to get Anna back.”
“I know.” There’s another screaming sound and Nero sighs. “I have to go. The baby’s awake.”
“I’ll keep you informed.” He hangs up, and I toss the phone on the bedside table again.
This has to work, for all our sakes. I need Anna, he needs Una, and that kid needs his mother. Everything is riding on this one tiny olive branch the Russian has extended. It’s not enough, but it’s all we have.
